Onward to Pluto!

[Space Tycoon]

Well, here's some good news anyway...

"New Horizons" Ten year Pluto mission successfully launches (www.space.com/missionlaunches/0601_pluto_newhorizons_archive.html)

Of course, this also means we're going to have to endure ten long, nerdy years of "Is it a Planet or is it a Comet?!" debates.

I say it's neither. I'd call it a "planetoid" or "mesoplanet," myself.

;)


Cool pics:


http://wallpaper-mond-mars.planetengrund.com/bildschirmhintergrund/raketen_shuttle_missionen_astronauten/NewHorizons_Pluto_Charon_800.jpg

http://wallpaper-mond-mars.planetengrund.com/bildschirmhintergrund/raketen_shuttle_missionen_astronauten/NewHorizons_Pluto_Charon_800.jpg



http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0110/newhorizons_durda.jpg

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0110/newhorizons_durda.jpg

[sickness]

Look at it this way, Spacey: That's 10 years of long, nerdy debates where nerds will continue to withold themselves from the gene pool and there'll be that many more chicks for you to bang.

[Space Tycoon]

One would think so. Tycoons always get the final revenge that way. :cool:

[Kaeos]

Not that I am knocking the need for exploration, but I read that this project will take 10 years and cost upward of 100 million dollars.

Sounds like the war were in now. Our fiscal priorites are truely staggering.:rolleyes:

[MPG]

Not that I am knocking the need for exploration, but I read that this project will take 10 years and cost upward of 100 million dollars.

Sounds like the war were in now. Our fiscal priorites are truely staggering.:rolleyes:The main difference is that the war costs billions of Dollars in the three-digit range, while this project costs millions of Dollars in the three-digit range. That's peanuts, really, and unless NASA really manages to f this one up, New Horizons isn't going to get anyone killed.

[Kaeos]

(can't figure out the new "QUOTE: function but...)

Well said MPG - and good to see ya again!

I get that we need to continue this type of interstellar research if we have any hope of advancing to some type of future outside the confines of this planet, but it would make more sense if the affairs of the earth were actually in order for once!

[Bark]

...but it would make more sense if the affairs of the earth were actually in order for once!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

THAT will never happen, so why wait around?

[Bokchoi Cowboy]

(can't figure out the new "QUOTE: function but...)

it would make more sense if the affairs of the earth were actually in order for once!

Good and noble thought Kaeos, which I am sure most here would agree.

Sometimes it seems that the push to explore "out there" is driven by the idea that we need to find a place to move to once we have exhausted this planet's ability to support life.

[Kaeos]

Sometimes it seems that the push to explore "out there" is driven by the idea that we need to find a place to move to once we have exhausted this planet's ability to support life.


You may have something there, but if that is the case, why aren't there habitats all over the moon yet. Bova paints a viable picture of what could be done with the moon in the foreseable future.

[Bokchoi Cowboy]

Yes, I have read the speculation and forcasting of Bova and others on what could possibly be done on the moon and other planets.

I did not make myself too clear, but what I intended to infer was the government, instead of cleaning up the act here on Earth, is probably looking at things with a "disposable planet" mentality.

[MPG]

You may have something there, but if that is the case, why aren't there habitats all over the moon yet. Bova paints a viable picture of what could be done with the moon in the foreseable future.
Right now, they seem to have enough trouble just keeping the International Space Station up and running and the shuttle program still hasn't recovered from the latest disaster. I think it's not a matter of not wanting to get to the Moon, but mostly of not being able to get there.

Getting enough resources to the moon to begin setting up some kind of self-sustaining colony is a huge effort. Remember how big the Saturn V had to be just to get the Eagle to the Moon. Now the Saturn V may not be the latest development in propulsion technology, but ultimately, it still holds true that you need fuel to move stuff into and then out of orbit, and the more fuel you use, the more fuel you need to carry that fuel, etc. The general idea is that a space station would help with the colonization of the Moon, but right now the ISS doesn't seem to be much of a space port. ;)

[Kaeos]

Now the Saturn V may not be the latest development in propulsion technology, but ultimately, it still holds true that you need fuel to move stuff into and then out of orbit, and the more fuel you use, the more fuel you need to carry that fuel, etc.

I thought I read somewhere that this Pluto bound craft was supposed to have a neuclear propulsion system that had the environmentalists in a tizzy?

[Bill_the_Pony]

All the more reason to go to Pluto. Projects like this will exhaust the world's supply of Plutonium, and I am sure that there is MORE than plenty of Plutonium THERE. :o

Such a no-brainer. Tsk. :green:

[Kaeos]

:green:

[Bill_the_Pony]

http://www.excelsiornews.com/xboard/images/avatars/1075343bf2810d196d.gif

[Space Tycoon]

Good and noble thought Kaeos, which I am sure most here would agree.

Sometimes it seems that the push to explore "out there" is driven by the idea that we need to find a place to move to once we have exhausted this planet's ability to support life. What about pure research? Just going out there to see what can be found? Until the day comes when major space efforts can be done much cheaper (by de-monopolizing NASA and introducing market competition), I'd say this is money well spent. $100 Million? The feds spend roughly the same order of magnitude on all manner of things every day, I'm willing to bet.

[Kaeos]

http://www.excelsiornews.com/xboard/images/avatars/1075343bf2810d196d.gif


:hugs: Nice to see you again Bill. You've put on a few pounds?

[sickness]

What about pure research? Just going out there to see what can be found? Until the day comes when major space efforts can be done much cheaper (by de-monopolizing NASA and introducing market competition), I'd say this is money well spent. $100 Million? The feds spend roughly the same order of magnitude on all manner of things every day, I'm willing to bet.

I've done the calculations recently and, just as a ballpark figure, our government spends that much about every 6 hours based on 8-hour days, 5 days a week, accounting for holidays.

[Bokchoi Cowboy]

For research? Sure, that noble cause again, but in reality in space exploration, as in most government and privately funded sciences, we left the model of "in the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge sake" a long time ago in exchange for the model of "we do this to generate hard results that can be turned into profit".

It is a money game, and has been since the shuttle first launched.

As far as getting to the moon and other planets, our gubmint may not have a plan on how to do it any time soon, but as we have seen in the media and Starship's (Space, I hardly knew ye...) previous posts, China is well on its way to achieve the goal of commandeering the moon for its own purposes, which probably include colonization.


By the way, I don't knock the Space Industry. It pays my bills. My company made the Atlas V boosters, the Centaur upper stage engines, and the probe's attitude and control thrusters for this mission.

It was a pretty cool launch. Fast rocket.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/141078main_liftoff3.jpg

Watch the launch:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/launch/newhorizons-allvideos.html

[Space Tycoon]

I've done the calculations recently and, just as a ballpark figure, our government spends that much about every 6 hours based on 8-hour days, 5 days a week, accounting for holidays.Ah, well, there you have it. We're getting a ten year mission out of 6 hours worth of government spending.

Well, plus whatever it will cost over the ten years to monitor, oversee and troubleshoot the missions. But that can't be too exorbitant.

In any event, Cassini cost billions and billions. This is a tiny fraction of that. And since the trend is towards smaller, more compact space probes and satellites, I think we can expect these missions to continue coming down in price.

I hope, anyway.

[MPG]

I thought I read somewhere that this Pluto bound craft was supposed to have a neuclear propulsion system that had the environmentalists in a tizzy?The plutonium-based generator on the New Horizons spacecraft is only being used to provide it with electrical power. The propulsion system is still based on a fairly conventional fuel system.

There may be propulsion systems in the future that could use nuclear power, but such systems could only be used once the spacecraft has already been shot into space by conventional means.

[Space Tycoon]

For research? Sure, that noble cause again, but in reality in space exploration, as in most government and privately funded sciences, we left the model of "in the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge sake" a long time ago in exchange for the model of "we do this to generate hard results that can be turned into profit".

It is a money game, and has been since the shuttle first launched.


Sometimes the two motives intersect. Who knows what practical applications will come from simply poking around. Who knew, before Apollo 17, that the Moon was a major source of Helium-3? And who cared? Well, we care now, because HE-3 is now seen as the ideal fuel for fusion reactors. When commercial fusion comes online, we'll have a real hard-headed business reason for colonizing the Moon and the Outer planets.

The number one reason space is so expensive is the BDB factor-- Big Dumb Boosters that are launched and discarded, at a cost of anywhere from tens of millions to billions.

Fortunately we're at the beginning of a revolution in launches. It's a very exciting time. Privately-funded companies with no connection to the military-industrial complex are quietly developing new approaches to all of these things we've been talking about.

[Space Tycoon]

I can't believe I never updated this sucker. I know many of you have probably already heard about it, but we might as well keep the thread going for the next eight years, until the probe reaches the Pluto system. Hopefully no "nameless suits" will delete our threads between now and then.

NASA Probe Spies Jupiter's Moons and Storms in Flyby
(http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070228_nhflyby_firstimages.html)

Visions of a volcanic plume spewing out of Jupiter’s moon Io and a swirling storm are among the first images returned by a NASA probe as it approached an early-Wednesday swing past the gas giant.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft sent home the new look at Jupiter’s “Little Red Spot” [image] and the planet’s volcanic moon Io [image] as it closed in on the gas giant during a planetary flyby that reached its closest approach at about 12:43 a.m. EST (0543 GMT).

"This is the best image of a large volcanic plume on Io since the Voyager flybys in 1979," John Spencer, deputy leader of the New Horizons Jupiter Encounter Science Team at Colorado’s Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), said in a written statement.

The flyby [image] is a major milestone for New Horizons’ flight and allows mission scientists to collect new Jupiter observations in a dress rehearsal for the probe’s planned Pluto encounter in 2015 [VIDEO: Follow the Jupiter flyby].






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